ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE...DOES THE WORLD REALLY NEED IT?

The world is going crazy about the Ice Bucket Challenge and frankly, I think it is lame. Upping and pouring ice water over the top of your head...doing it for a cause...all well...but has the society really gone that insensitive? I personally know people who have taken up the challenge for their facebook pages, for creating videos and uploading the same...to be counted in the millions who are trending and cool!

I was hardly the kind of person who would think twice about something like this, to go one step ahead and write my views on current topics was not something I ever fathomed myself doing. And yet here I am, eager to talk about what all I can see and how I find it wrong on so many counts. And today, I want to talk about Ice Bucket Challenge…reason…a thoughtless, stupid comment by a thoughtless adult!

Here’s what happened, a certain someone on LinkedIn mentioned how people are dying due to shortage of clean water and wasting water in the ice bucket challenge is so wrong on so many counts! To this thought (which I personally feel is rather apt for a country like India where clean drinkable water is fast becoming a scarce commodity!) a certain young princess turned around and shared her own wisdom…stating that water is not wasted and 100% water is recycled! Really? Is that your answer? That I am not wasting clean water…I am simply pouring it in the drain for it to be recycled? Do people actually understand the gravity of the situation we humans are in?

Let me share some facts and figures for the enlightened few! According to Dr. Pradipto Ghosh & Dr. Girija Bharat, India faces an ever increasing deficit of drinkable water resources. The country that houses nearly 17 percent of World’s Population has a meager 4% share of the world’s water resources. Furthermore, adding to the woes is the unequal and rather erratic precipitation (thanks to the increasing pollution and decreasing forest cover) which is not even harvested properly (read the water is not replenished in the system!) The ground water level is decreasing at a rate of 10 cms per year (those who think this is not too shocking please ask the residents of capital city of Delhi who have constantly drilled the earth for more water and found nothing? Only to drill deeper still!). And last but not the least… Over 70% of surface water and ground water resources are contaminated. (The inspired and inquisitive few can read the full article at http://southasia.oneworld.net/peoplespeak/water-woes-shortage-or-wastage#.U_2JscWSzco).

Now back to the brilliant people…here’s a fact – we have water but water worth drinking is not in plenty. Here’s another fact – we are polluting water and contaminating our resources and then spending millions of rupees to ensure we get drinkable water and wasting more water in turn. Now here’s a thought…people taking the ice bucket challenge…who pour ice (in all probability made from drinkable water) over their heads…are you truly doing your bit for the community? You want to help people…spread awareness…don’t go wasting water by pouring it over your heads…remember…it would not automatically find its way to a person’s tap…the process is long, requires us to be vigilant and active…water is never wasted…but pure drinkable water…

Really people…stop wasting water…even if you are among the lucky few who never witnessed shortage and can afford expensive purifiers…don’t waste it for you did nothing…NOTHING to give back to the eco system.